THE SOUTH SLAVIC CHURCH

The south Slavic church consists of several modern predecessors-the Bulgarian Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox, Albanian Orthodox, Bulgarian Catholic, and Italo-Albanian Catholic churches. Different Slavic peoples accepted Christianity at different times and for sundry purposes. In the late autumn of 864, a mission from the Patriarch of Constantinople, Photios, arrived at the Bulgarian capital city of Pliska and converted the Khan, his family and high-ranking dignitaries. In contrast the Serbs, initially accepted submission to Orthodoxy in the 7th century, eventually becoming independent from Constantinople in 1217 with the birth of the Serbian state.